By Jonathan Spicer
ISTANBUL, Jan 15 (Reuters) – The Syrian government army could use further force against Kurdish militants after a flare-up in violence in northern Syria, the foreign minister of neighbouring Turkey, a strong backer of the Syrian authorities, said on Thursday.
More than 150,000 people have fled from two Kurdish-run pockets of Syria’s northern city of Aleppo during five days of fighting between government forces and Kurdish fighters. Syria’s health ministry says at least 23 people have died.
Turkey, the top foreign backer of the Syrian government run by former rebels that toppled Bashar al-Assad in 2024, has itself threatened a potential military operation against the Syrian Kurdish groups it calls terrorists.
It says the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) must integrate into the central government under a nearly year-old agreement that has stalled.
“I hope it doesn’t come to that point … but when problems are not solved through dialogue, unfortunately, I see from here that the use of force is also an option for the Syrian government,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told a press conference in Istanbul.
The violence in Aleppo has deepened one of the main faultlines in Syria, where President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s promise to unify the country under one leadership after 14 years of war has faced resistance from Kurdish forces wary of his Islamist-led government.
Syria’s military has declared a handful of Kurdish-held towns in the north as a “military zone” and said all non-state factions stationed there should leave the area.
On Wednesday and Thursday, it dispatched fighters and military equipment to the zone and opened a humanitarian corridor for people to flee.
Fidan said that the SDF must show good intentions and break out of a cycle of violence. Turkey says the SDF is aligned with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party militant group, which is involved in a peace process with Ankara.
Fidan added that the peace process with the PKK should not become a missed opportunity, and Ankara hopes it will continue.
(Additional reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu and Huseyin Hayatsever in Ankara, and Maya Gebeily in BeirutWriting by Daren ButlerEditing by Ece Toksabay and Peter Graff)
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